Healthy Undhiyo

We Mumbaites are familiar with this word “Undhiyo” as much as Dhokla, Vada Pav , Kothimbirwadi  and Misal. I know these dishes are mouth watering and tempt us even when we have already had our lunch. Undhiyo from any eatery out comes in with loads of oil and a few veggies and ‘Muthia’ floating in it. For me the idea of a healthy version struck when I actually saw the recipe traditionally made on a popular gujarti TV channel. It has the goodness of all the seasonal vegetables that are available in the winter season along with Coriander leaves and Garlic. I somehow did not agree to the fact that Undhiyo needs to float in oil to make it tasty. So I decided to try out a version of mine with less oil, with lots of vegetables and no guilt.

The Undhiyo thus prepared would 7-8 persons and should be accordingly adjusted if less quantity is required.

Ingredients:

Surti Papdi-1/2 Kilo

Purple Yam/Kand- ¼ kg

Potatoes -¼ kg

Brinjal -1/4 kg Slit lengthwise

Shelled Tovar -1cup

Shelled peas-1cup

Sweet Potatoes ¼ Kg

Raw Bananas -2

Coriander leaves-1 large bunch

Garlic with leaves- 15 cloves

Green chillies- 2-3

Coconut- 1cup grated

oil – 4 tbsp

ajwain -2 tbsp

Seasame seeds or Til -2tbsp

Juice of 2 lemons

For the Muthias

Methi  , chopped fine -1 cup

Besan- 2 tbsp

atta- 1cup

salt to taste

Chili Powder ½ tsp

Turmeric-1/2 tsp

Dhania-jeera powder-1/2 tsp

Method for Muthias:

Combine all the ingredients for muthias with sufficient water and 1 tspoon of oil to make a dough. Shape into oblong balls between palms and deep fry them till golden brown. Keep aside.

 For the Undhiyo

To begin with cut the vegetables in to big pieces.

For the masala, combine Coriander leaves, Garlic, green chillies, salt and some lemon juice. Add some water and grind in a blender.  Mix the chutney with the grated coconut, adjust the salt and apply to each of the above vegetables and keep aside. In a pressure cooker heat 4 Tbsp of oil and add ajwain and Til to it . Layer vegetables with Papdi, Potatoes, Kand , sweet potatoes, shelled tovar and peas, Raw bananas and brinjal  and cook upto 2 whistles or till vegetables are done. Open the cooker when cool and  add muthias to the undhiyo and simmer on low flame. Garnish with grated coconut, muthias and sev.

Good accompaniment with Rotis or Puris. Most of them who tasted the Undhiyo liked it’s flavours and the aroma of variety of vegetables . In my opinion this is the best part of an Undhiyo.

Millet Breads (Bhakris)

I have already mentioned the importance of millets in our diet through some earlier posts in my blog. Millets as a part of daily alkaline diet. It is particularly recommended to include millet in our diet in winter and the body consumes a lot of energy to maintain warmth in the body.

This recipe is a traditional one and I have learnt it from my mother.

The bhakri is a simple millet bread that is usually flattened with the help of palms and then baked on a griddle preferably made of cast iron. Millets do not have gluten in them and that’s how it makes it difficult to knead and roll like our regular rotis or Parathas wherein we use wheat. Here we try to induce a glutenizing effect by pre-cooking the mixture in hot boiling water. After this is done , it is knead and rolled into Bhakris and baked without any oil on a Tawa (flat griddle). It forms a staple, wholesome, nutritious and tasty form of bread that goes well with any vegetable side dish.

With simple ingredients and easy to prepare this dish is sure to be liked by everyone at home. This recipe can be made with any kind of millet e.g. jowar, bajra, ragi or even corn(makai ka atta)

Ingredients

Bajri flour 1 cup Heaped

Water -1cup

salt -1/2 tsp

Method:

Heat the water in a kadai and let it boil. Add the salt and stir. When the water is boiling lower the flame and add the flour and stir continuously till it forms a king of dry dough. Remove from fire and cover it for 2 minutes. The final consistency is shown in the picture below. It should be dry and difficult to stir.

                             

Open the kadai and moisten your hands with some water and knead the dough carefully. You would notice that the dough actually behaves like a roti dough with the same consistency and can be made in to small balls. Flatten each ball, dust it with bajri flour and roll it out. Bake on a hot tawa on both sides.

Applying oil is not necessary and the bhakri taste best when served hot and remain soft for a longer time.

The dough needs to be thoroughly  knead with hands and care has to be taken not to hurt the hands. After repeating the  recipe for a couple of times you would know the exact consistency of the dough required to bring out perfect bhakris. I have taught this recipe to many of my friends and they have loved this tasty and low-cal recipe for a weight loss diet. These are a frequent breakfast option in my house and I usually serve them with Bottle gourd vegetable or Spinach with Pumpkin.

Boiled Rice Kheer

This is a kheer that is actually healthy to eat.  I prepared it out of a special rice which is popularly known as Mangalore Ukda rice. It has a prominent reddish outer skin and is not polished away like other rice varieties. The word  “ Ukda” means Boiled. The rice is boiled and then processed further to form a dry grain. As a preparation of this dish one has to wash this rice 2-3 times and pressure cooked for a fairly long time till it turns out very soft. Usually 2 whistles on a high flame and then kept for half an hour on a slow flame is recommended. Consequently ,  a large amount of water is added into the pressure cooker along with the rice.

This form of Rice is usually eaten along with the water in which it is cooked and is popularly known as “kanji.”The outer red skin of the Rice makes it more nutritive than other white forms of rice as it is full of niacin, Pyridoxine and Thiamine which are B group of vitamins. It also contains calcium, iron and copper thus making it a complete “ Whole Grain” with all its goodness. I prepared a kheer or ‘Payasam’ as it is popularly called in the south. In many areas of Maharashtra such rice kheer is often called ‘Doodhpaak.’

Ingredients:

Boiled Rice- Pressure cooked till soft -2 Cups

Milk- 2 cups

Sugar-1 ½ cups or as to suit one’s taste

Mixed dry fruits- Almonds, pistachios, cashews and raisins.

Kesar or Saffron- a few strands dissolved in some warm milk

Cardamom or elaichi powder- ½ tsp

Method:

In a pan, boil the milk and add the cooked rice into it. Stir continuously and let is cook for 10-15 minutes till the milk reduces and the mixture thickens. Add  sugar and stir again cooking for some time. Add Saffron in milk and the dry fruits chopped into pieces. Finally add the cardamom powder and serve hot or chilled.

I have tried to make it as a low fat version. Condensed milk or full cream milk can be used to make it richer. Also Khoya can be added. The dry fruits and also be fried in ghee before adding to the kheer. It all depends how rich you want the kheer to be!

Spinach with Pumpkins

This is a great gravy dish in which I have tried using greens by using spinach, ash gourd  and pumpkins. This is an ideal dish for every health conscious, diabetic, weight watchers and children. This is rich in carotene which makes it full of vitamin A, mineral rich with iron ,potassium and zinc and has very less oil. This green gravy can be taken as a base gravy for various dishes like Spinach soup, Alu-palak (Potato and Spinach),Palak –Paneer(cottage cheese with spinach)and various other vegetables that can combine well. In place of pumpkin any other gourd can also be used such as squash or bottle gourd

Ingredients

Spinach – A large bunch, washed, chopped

Pumpkin – 1 cup diced

Ash gourd – 1cup diced

Ginger – ½ inch piece, chopped

Garlic – about 5-7 cloves, chopped

Onions -2- sliced

Salt to taste

Turmeric powder ½ tsp

Green chillies -2 slit

Juice of half a lemon

Cumin- ½ tsp

oil – 1 tsp

Garam masala powder ½ tsp or as required

Method

To prepare the gravy heat a pan with half a tsp of oil and add sliced onions to it, sauté till transluscent and add ginger and garlic. Add the spinach and cook till the spinach turns dark green. Cool And blend in a mixer till smooth.

In a pan heat another half a tsp of oil add cumin and green chillies. Fry for some time and then add pumpkin and ash gourd and half cup of water, salt and cook covered it is soft enough.Add the gravy, adjust the salt, turmeric powder, garam masala powder and let it boil. Adjust the consistency to your liking. Put off the flame and add lemon juice and stir. Serve hot with Rotis, Parathas, or Rice.

Carrot, Pineapple and Coconut Cake

The ingredients of this recipe impressed me and the fact that this cake would taste different made me try it. I was watching a food show on the television and I saw this cake being made. I forgot to record the exact measurements of the ingredients  and decided to follow my instinct. In fact, measuring the ingredients is an important task in baking and I was a little nervous about how the cake would finally turn .

I have used fresh ingredients wherever possible. Fresh carrots  and pineapple in grated form are used. Fresh coconut could not be used because of the presence of excess moisture in them. Desicated coconut is used instead. As a nutritionist, I have always encouraged the use of whole wheat flour instead of the bleached refined flour. This way the cake is healthy except for the calories for the weight-watchers.In this cake, although I have used whole wheat flour (sieved a couple of times) members can use refined flour if they wish to make this cake more fluffier.

The cake can be stored in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. The ingredients given below are sufficient for a large cake baked in a round tin of 8 inch diameter. I believe in baking  a large cake as the process is tedious and the cake would serve as a desert for some days and not finish in just one serving!

Ingredients

Sieved whole wheat flour or refined flour-200 gms

Powdered sugar-275 gms

4 eggs

Butter -150 gms

Carrots grated -1/2 cup

Pineapple chopped fine – ½ cup

Desicated coconut- 50 gms

Cinnamon powder_ ½ tsp

Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tsp

Baking Powder- ½ tsp

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. Grease and dust a cake and line with butter paper.

In a bowl beat the eggs till light and add the butter. Continue beating the eggs and add the powdered sugar. Add the carrots, pineapple and the coconut and mix well. Sieve the flour well along with the baking powder. Add the flour mixture to the bowl one spoon at a time and fold the mixture. Add all the flour and prepare the cake batter. Pour it into the cake tin and bake in a preheated oven for 45 minutes or till a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.

I usually do not decorate cakes as we find it too yummy to wait! Well this cake can be decorated with whipped cream and cherries. Celebrate occasions with this delightful fruity-veggie variation.